Three Steps Ahead

If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I learned how to play Chess around the age of nine.  As with many interests of mine, no one instructed me on how to play the game.  Once I taught myself the rules, I eagerly began playing with friends, or anyone, who knew how to play.  In my delusions of grandeur, a consequence of my young age, I thoroughly believed I could have made a name for myself in the art.  But as I grew older, challenges with other players were hard to find.

    A particularly fond memory I have is playing Chess while in middle school.  Every day after school, the computer lab would open for “free play”. In between violent and bloody skirmishes of Warcraft 2 against fellow students, I would play long, and often thought provoking, games of Chess with my computer teacher (whose name currently escapes me).  Looking back on this, I wonder if he took it easy on me – perhaps in hopes of fostering my skillset.  It was, in fact, during this time that I began to learn the basic strategies of the game.  Those lessons did not stick as I grew older, and the games once again became scarce.

    Now, ten years later, I find myself with the desire to better my strategic skills.  About two weeks ago, I ventured over to my favorite used book store to pick up “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chess”.  In my quest to complete my goal of competing in a Chess tournament, I’ve decided to start from scratch.  Mind you, I haven’t forgotten how the game is played, but after reviewing recent matches I’ve had online, it’s safe to say that there is room for improvement.  
    As luck would have it, one Charlie Randle (a friend of mine at work), is not only knowledgeable in the art of Chess, but he also has a few tournament wins under his belt.  Upon reading my last post and the mention of my interest in becoming proficient in Chess, he was kind enough to offer a few strategies and suggestions that will prove useful as I practice more and more.  I decided to take it a step further and ask if I could count on him to instruct me in his grasp of the game.  He was considerate enough to accept, and has since lent his time to assist me in completing this current goal.  After crafting a loose schedule of sorts, we are ready to begin my instruction. Fortunately, we came across a mobile application which allows us to play Chess remotely. This potent find will prove exceptionally useful when physical meetings cannot be afforded.

    Two or three months from now, with the right amount of practice and drive, I am optimistic that I will be ready to compete in, and maybe even win, a Chess tournament.  I can’t wait to write about it!

Plan Of Attack

   Now that this blog is up, the approach I’ve settled upon in order to effectively go about the completion of my 180 list is to dissect it into manageable sizes. To do this, I have created an additional list and in turn divided that into time parses. These parses will allow me to better meet my goals by appropriately gauging the time required to complete each of my many goals.

Some of these challenges are simple enough and can be accomplished in as little as one month’s time. Others can be conquered in a day given the available resources. And then there are the “long term” goals which may take a bit more time, perhaps even years. A great example? For instance: I'm not the world-famous-writer I want to be yet, so flying to Paris, on a whim, for the weekend isn't yet in my budget.

   This month, I’ll be focusing on obtaining my CPR and First Aid certification. Effectively, I have chosen to list this goal as one of the “short term”. Another goal I am currently hoping to focus on is sharpening my skills in chess. The amount of time to accomplish said goal? I'm hopeful that in two months I can become proficient enough to compete in a chess tournament. And if I'm lucky, I may even find one around the same time. Let it also be known, that on top of these busy tasks of mine, I'm still keeping up with Spanish and Sign Language.

Hablo Español (Or At Least I Try)

    As far as I can remember, I've always had a strong interest in learning foreign languages. This particular interest of mine grew stronger from my late teens into my now mid-twenties. During that time I began to dabble in different languages. Those being Spanish, Arabic, American Sign Language, Mandarin Chinese, and French. “Dabble” is probably too generous of a word as it is no doubt obvious that no one could hope to master such a large number of diverse languages all at once. Still, I am proud that one language I did actively focus on was Spanish. Now mind you, I have not mastered the language, nor would I say that I am fluent. However if you drop me in the middle of Mexico, I'm knowledgeable enough to effectively communicate my way back home. Although Spanish is still difficult for me, to have come as far as I have, with no one to motivate me, save for myself, and with little or no assistance, I am very grateful of what I've accomplished thus far. I've progressed so much in fact that I am one of the few interpreters in my retail job, and the only one of which who was not raised into the language. This feat is mine alone to claim.
    Still, I have my work cut out for me. As is common with most people studying a foreign tongue, I am able to understand Spanish more than I can successfully converse in it. Having a retail job challenges me almost daily to overcome this. Recently my occupation has asked our Spanish speaking employees to wear a label above our name tags to state that we speak Spanish. When presented this option, I admit that I froze with nervousness. I'm not entirely comfortable with my grasp of Spanish. But my hesitation was short lived as co-workers inspired me not to sell myself short. Many of them are impressed with the translation work I've done thus far and count on me for such tasks frequently. I affixed the label to my name tag accepting that from here on out, I have to work that much harder at competing this goal. So far, I've had plenty of practice.